Venue – "Metropolitan Desing Center"

The venue for the 5th International Solar Cities Congress is a new creative and innovative space called Centro Metropolitano de Diseño (Metropolitan Design Center), located in Algarrobo St. 1041, in the historical neighborhood of Barracas (Buenos Aires, Argentina).

The building of the Metropolitan Design Center is the center of District services. Open to all residents of the City of Buenos Aires, offers an annual program of events related to the design and creative industries.

The CMD is situated in the building that used to serve as the city’s principal fish market. In 2001 the city government’s Ministry of Economic Development began renovating the building and will celebrate the official completion of the centre on 14th October. The building has a total area of 14,000m² and an employment potential of 1,500. It houses government offices concerned with promoting design, creative industries and foreign trade, 70 workspaces for the “incubation” of entrepreneurial ventures, an auditorium, classrooms, spaces for workshops and laboratories, 3,000m² for exhibitions and displays, a specialized library, a museum, a cultural centre and a cafeteria.

The CMD’s mission is to be the leading public advocate in the city of the economic and cultural importance of design. It financially and logistically supports and stimulates private and public initiatives related to design in the city. It assists local entrepreneurs in launching their ventures, coordinates interaction between designers, design managers, business executives, academics and policy makers and promotes the importance of design and innovation to the city’s economy.

But the fashion industry is just one sector of the local economy that the CMD works to invigorate. Through various mechanisms, the CMD supports production of TV programs, movies, advertising, videos games and computer animation, publishing, music and architecture. The centre works to promote these creative industries both at home and abroad. At home they offer training, project management, and provide grants and loans from the city bank. Abroad, they organize international trade missions, arrange for local producers to attend prestigious trade fairs and host the annual Buenos Aires International Design Festival.

How te arrive to the CMD?

El CMD is in the neighborhood of barracks , just fifteen minutes from downtown , is accessible by several means of transport:

• Buses: 12, 20, 37, 45, 70.
• Train: Roca line, platform 1 to 5 andenes 1al 5. Down in Yrigoyen station.
• Subway: Take the “C” line to "Constitución" station. Then combine with Roca line.

For detailed information, you can use the interactive city´s map

More information: www.cmd.gov.ar